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Some Kind of Bliss
Some Kinda of Bliss is the lead single released from Kylie Minogue's sixth studio album "Impossible Princess." It was written by Kylie Minogue, James Dean Bradfield & Sean Moore and produced by James Dean Bradfield & Dave Eringa. The single was released on September 8, 1997. The critical response to the song was mostly mixed; earlier reviews were critical towards Kylie's image and sound transition to rock music while retrospective reviews are positive towards her songwriting and sonic experimentation. Song Background After releasing the single "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on October 2 1995, Kylie received acclaim from critics for her experimentation with rock music who praised her transition from being the once-dubbed "singing budgie" to a mature woman. Because of this, Kylie (with the support of her then boyfriend Stephane Sednaoui) decided to experiment with her music for the upcoming album. Welsh musician James Dean Bradfield contacted Minogue's A&R Pete Hadfield, asking him what their current project was where Hadfield replied, "Kylie Minogue's new album". He asked Hadfield if he could work with Kylie and was approved. After Bradfield sent her a demo of the album track "I Don't Need Anyone", Kylie was dissatisfied with the lyrical content and re-wrote the track herself. Despite this, she found it "difficult" to write the song, so Bradfield had taken pieces of the original demo lyrics and mixed them with other lyrics she had written to create the finishing product of "I Don't Need Anyone". Kylie found this method of writing "intriguing" and wanted to do it again, so she decided to do this with "Some Kind of Bliss", writing it alongside Bradfield and Sean Moore. She commented about this method, saying, "He took one half of one set lyrics and took another half from another set of lyrics and merged them together, which I found interesting because it was something I wouldn't have done because, in my mind they're two separate things." Kylie later commented that she felt it worked together. Lyrically, the song is about her being happy and she said, "To me the song is about being able, not necessarily shut your eyes and feel that someone is there but they way where you are close to someone ... the ability to feel like they're with you even if they are a million miles away." Song Composition "Some Kind of Bliss" was recorded at the Mayfair Studios, London, England in 1997 and was mixed by Alan Bremnar at Roundhouse Studios. Instrumentally, the song features bass, electric and acoustic guitars, drums, string sections, flute, and a saxophone. "Some Kind of Bliss" is a pop song with alternative rock and "rock-tinged" elements that lasts a duration of four minutes and thirteen seconds on the album. A reviewer from Sputnikmusic said that "Some Kind of Bliss is one of the more pop-rock songs that could have been part of her earlier work. This gem breaks up the dominance of the sleepy trance vibe to a more upbeat feel." Michael R. Smith from The Daily Vault felt that "Some Kind of Bliss" was "surprisingly a strong and straightforward rock" song. Nick Levine from Digital Spy labelled the music as "Motowny Indie" while Sarah SMith from FasterLouder called it "pure pop". Priya from NME said "Some Kind of Bliss" is "a brassy 60’s influenced number which has a totally ‘Everything Must Go’ vibe to it." Martin Power (who wrote the 2012 biography "Nailed to History: The Story of the Manic Street Preachers" for the Manic Street Preachers) commented that "Some Kind of Bliss" was "far away from Minogue's glory days of "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Better The Devil You Know" as it was possible to get." A reviewer from The Australian noticed the transition from Kylie's earlier work by saying "The new single is not as heavily produced as her past songs, leaving her voice sounding edgier, and guitars take the place of the drum machine beats of earlier efforts." Chart Performance "Some Kind of Bliss" entered at #27 on the Australian Singles Chart and fell to #35 the following week. The stayed in the chart for six weeks and resulted as Kylie's lowest charting lead single from an album until her single "Into the Blue" from her 2014 album "Kiss Me Once" It entered and peaked at number forty-six on the New Zealand Singles Chart for a sole week, her lowest charting single after her 1988 single "It's No Secret". In the United Kingdom, "Some Kind of Bliss" entered at number twenty-two on September 20, 1997, which broke Kylie's consecutive top twenty hits and became her lowest solo single until the song "Better than Today" from her 2010 album "Aphrodite" at #32 on November 20, 2010. Critical Reception "Some Kind of Bliss" received mixed reviews from most music critics, but it received positive reviews in retrospect. Writing for NME in November of 1997, Ben Willmott called it "supremely irritating" and stated "Kylie belt's out the lyrics like she's reading from an autocue. Any soul is lost in a slurry of bought-in brass and a ropey guitar solo that's be more at home on a Shakin' Stevens record." John Magnan from The Age said while the song was a stand out to the album, it "is actually one of the album's clunkier tracks". Jaime Gill from Yahoo! Music reviewed her "Ultimate Kylie" compilation album, and criticized the musical composition by calling it a "awkward faux-rock". Matt James from PopMatters reviewed her compilation The Best of Kylie Minogue and was disappointed with "Some Kind of Bliss"' absence, labelling it a "lost classic". Larry Flick from Billboard was positive, saying "Ms. Minogue has been reborn as an alterna-pop vixen to be reckoned with." Conversely, Allmusic's Chris True had selected the song as an album stand out and a career stand out track. While reviewing her 2002 compilation "Confide in Me", True stated: "Impossible Princess, both of which found her stretching and growing beyond the pop princess image she had previously. Dark, noisy tracks like "Limbo," the trip-hoppy "Jump," and the more rock-oriented "I Don't Need Anyone" and "Some Kind of Bliss"—both of which were co-written by the Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield—found her trying on different styles to replace the bubblegum pop of the past.” A reviewer from Who Magazine called the song "Funky , Spunky, Rocky, Big." Gareth Gorman said that while the song showcased Kylie's "thin vocals" and followed saying "it still works due to one of those melody lines that is inevitable stunning, simple and effective." Michael Dwyer from Western Australia magazine stated, "Some Kind Of Bliss and Did It Again have already proved our Kylie has more tricks up her sleeve this time that Stock, Aitken and Waterman ever dreamed of and her sixth album harbours more strings to her carefully-cultivated bow." A reviewer from Music Week awarded the song four stars out of five, stating, "Kylie changes musical tack again with this dense, big sounding single, co-written with two of the Manics, which loudly announces she's back in style." Music Video The music video for "Some Kind of Bliss" was directed by David Mould and was shot in the Desert of Tabernas in Spain & features Dexter Fletcher as Minogue's lover. The video is set in non-linear structure as it opens with Kylie and Dexter in a blue cadillac at a gas station, with Minogue staring inside the gas station while Dexter sits in the car after being released from jail. Several scenes feature Kylie and Dexter in different outfits in different areas, driving and running around a hotel. There are scenes with Kylie and Dexter fighting, being happy and playing around in there hotel room. During the bridge sequence, Kylie and Dexter park in front of a shop & Kylie seductively tries to distract the cashier outside by staring and posing at him while Dexter tries to steal money from the till. In the last scenes, Kylie is in another outfit trying to walk out of an alley with a bag of money, but she sees a police car driving towards her and tries to walk off. Dexter is caught by the police and is escorted into the police car while yelling at Kylie. Kylie (who sees the alteration) drives off with the money and looks back at Dexter while she is driving down the street. Category:Songs Category:Singles